Paul Ireland, from Ardrossan, will arrive in Ramsay Street this summer, playing a top police detective.

Paul Ireland, from Ardrossan, will arrive in Ramsay Street this summer, playing a top police detective.

He's been signed up for an initial 13 episodes. But he's hoping the viewers will get hooked on his character and bosses will keep him on.

Paul said: "I'm thrilled to be joining Neighbours. It's a great show and a terrific opportunity."

Starring in a top-rated soap is a far cry from filleting haddock in his dad's shop in Greenock.

And Paul, 41, said five years as a fishmonger was enough to convince him to try his luck on stage and screen.

He recalled: "I reckoned there had to be something easier, so I went for acting!" Paul's first big role was as Renton in the stage version of Trainspotting. The show took him from London to Australia, where he met his wife Thea.

They set up home in London with son Finn and Paul, who has a daughter Georgia from a previous relationship, worked on TV shows including The Bill, Doctors, Judge John Deed and Casualty.

He also appeared in Taggart, playing cop Stuart Fraser's gay lover.

But his career really took off after Thea got homesick and the family moved Down Under.

As well as his Neighbours role, he has just finished filming a "gay sex sci-fi comedy" that he hopes will be screened on the BBC.

He said: "I play a gay doctor called Andy who is into leather and bondage. When one of the episodes opens, I'm tied to the ceiling in a leather and rubber suit.

"It is a really funny series and the BBC are already in talks about showing it in Britain."

Paul will make his Neighbours debut in Australia in June. UK viewers including Georgia, who is at school in Glasgow, will see him on Channel 5 later in the summer.